Things I will NOT do before I get old, or, Reverse Bucket List

AllenS: I had to share this --

Sitting on the Trolltunga rock in Norway.

 

Jumping on the Trolltunga rock in Norway.

 

Extreme skiing in Wyoming.

 

Skywalking on Mount Nimbus in Canada.

 

Extreme kayaking at Victoria Falls ..

 

Diving 30 meters through a rock monolith in Portugal.

Standing on the Edgewalk inToronto .

 

Cycling in Norway.

 

Sitting around at Yosemite.

 

Glacier boarding anywhere.

 

Biking on the Cliffs of Moher.

 

Fortunately, I am ALREADY old.
I didn't get this way by being stupid

You've Got Mail*

To: Camille Paglia
To: Camille Paglia
From: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Re: Our college Days
CC: Bill Clintion, Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, NOW, Emily's List

Dear Cami,

I have been reading  your latest screed and I must say I am very disappointed. I see where you go after Bill again about that stupid tramp Monica. Get over it already. It is no big feminist issue.  I don't care if he used young girls to service him so I can concentrate on implanting my plans for world domination. Don't you remember all those times in college when we were in the steam room at Lucille Roberts talking about how we were going to topple the patriarchy and take over the world? I mean then you could put your finger on it. I mean you always put your finger on it.

Don't you remember the good times?

By the way I still have those pants. Huma wears them now. She loves to get into my pants.

Please be a dear and donate some of your vast riches to the Clinton foundation or at least use my Amazon portal to show your appreciation for my activities as a model for women. I think I deserve much more than obscure college professors who are drunk and disorderly even if they do write about you on their failing blogs.

Toodles,
Hillary.

_________________
*A guest post from Trooper York

A Rod must Go!!!!!! (Yankee fan Guest Post)

Spring training is almost here and attention must be paid. The Yankees have a big problem. His name is A Rod.

 

He is coming back after his suspension. We owe him something like $61 million over the next three years. That's right $61 million. Now the thought was that he would be closing in on the all time home run record but with all the time lost that is not going to happen. He is going to pass Willie Mays and get an eight million dollar bonus because he only needs seven more dingers to make it happen. But how good could he be after all this time off? Plus the Yankees have signed a perfectly competent third baseman in Chase Headley who is going to be their main man this year. So A Rod is the DH and a backup at third and first. I just don't think he is worth the trouble.

Witness the nonsense with his apology note. Handwritten squiggles that are laughably stupid:

Seriously? This is going to be a circus. The Yankees should just cut their losses and take the tax write off. Let some other team take on the circus. They have made some good moves this year. Our starting upside has a lot of questions but a big upside. Our bullpen could be the best in the majors. We have a new stud closer and a bunch of pretty decent middle relievers. Our brittle starters only have to give us a quality five or six innings. The lineup is not full of the prima donna stars we used to have but a bunch of scrappy guys with some vets who if they have bounce back years can really make something happen. We are not the favorites. But in the expanded playoff world we have a chance to get in the mix and then anything can happen.

But first we need to get rid of A Rod. Let's send him to Boston. They both suck. Let them suck together.

 

Thanks Trooper

Guest Post: It was Mayor De Blasio who disrespected Officer Ramos funeral

Red Bill De Blasio has commented on the fact that some police officers turned their back on his empty eulogy at that funeral for Officer Liu. The Sandinista Mayor said:

“Those individuals who took certain actions this last week––or last two weeks, really––they were disrespectful to the families involved. That’s the bottom line. They were disrespectful to the families who had lost their loved one. And I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing in a context like that.”

Let's review who was disrespectful and who was not. De Blasio did not show up for the wake for Officer Ramos until 9pm after it was over. He missed the eulogy from the Officer's minister and more importantly the moving tribute from his son. What did he possibly have to do that was more important than being there early to show his "respects?" This is the guy who went to the gym instead of attending the funeral of Herman Badillo who was a pioneering leader in the Hispanic Community. What does he have against Hispanics?

Did you ever attend a wake? What you do is you show up early and show your respects. You sit quietly and maybe say a prayer. You might participate when the priest or minister or rabbi says a prayer. Or not if it is not your tradition. You sit there and show your "respect." I have been at wakes and memorials and services for almost every religion and creed in my day and I always saw everyone show up on time and be respectful.

Unless they were worthless communist scumbags.

He didn't show up late for Officer Liu's service. He came. He stayed for fifteen minutes. FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What did he have to do that was so important that he couldn't stay for more than the time it takes to fry up an eggroll? What does he have against Chinese people?

What does he have against Cops?

We know what he has against them. He had to warn his son that he might get killed by a racist cop when he is much more likely to get hit by lightning or eaten by a shark. He had to reinstate the Judge who let a perp walk who had posted terroristic threats against the NYPD just like the guy who ended up killing the two officers. He defended the chief of staff who has a boyfriend who is a career criminal. He has members of the his administration who post things like "Fuck the Police" on their twitter.

The proof is in the pudding. The pudding that is Al Sharpton that sits at his right hand when he makes decisions about policing the city.

I won't get into his wife and her associates and attitudes. I will just let you know that she wore a pair of jeans to the funeral.

Respect. Yeah. Right.

It's De Blasio Time

Two police officers were shot in their patrol car today as they sat outside a housing project. One is dead at this point and another is critical. There are conflicting reports that the perp might have been shot at the subway station. Reports differ.

I wonder if that college professor who was arrested for throwing a garbage can on the Brooklyn Bridge will protest? Will the hipster who closed down traffic stop to think about these two men? Will De Blasio and Obama go on TV and say "That could have been my son?" Will Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg and Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart and Chris Matthews and Rachael Maddow all talk about how terrible this is on their shows?

I am old enough to remember Officers Piagentini and Jones. To remember what NYC in the 1970's was really like. How you were afraid to ride the subway. Walk down the street. Go to Times Square. Those oh so happy days are here again.

________________

I live in the belly of the beast. This is what NYC has become under Obama and De Blasio.

Don't let anybody fool you. Don't let anybody offer excuses and lies. This is what they really think.

This is De Blasio time.

"Scared Together"

They were together in the House. 

Just the two of them. 
It was a cold, dark, stormy night. The storm had come quickly 
and each time the thunder boomed he watched her jump. 

She looked across the room and admired his strong 
appearance....and wished that he would take her in his 
arms, comfort her and protect her from the storm. 

Suddenly, with a pop, the power went out.... She screamed.. 
He raced to the sofa where she was cowering. 
He didn't hesitate to pull her into his arms.. 
He knew this was a forbidden union and expected her to pull back.
He was surprised when she didn't resist but instead clung to him. 
The storm raged on.... 

They knew it was wrong...
Their families would never understand... So consumed were 
they in their FEAR that they heard no opening of doors... 
just the faint click of a camera......

(photo added by Chip)

Guest Post: The Hope of Holiness

I teach theology. I have a PhD in theology. In common parlance, that makes me a theologian.

Yet, more often than I’d want to admit, I get those accusing, dismissive voices in the back of my mind, “Who are you? You know who you are? And you pose as someone who can talk about God?” Often accompanied by a short, or long, list of ways that I am presumptuous for thinking that. Ways that clearly don’t mark me as a man of God.

Things I’ve done, or not done, in the past. Fears and anxieties and misplaced hopes in the present.

That’s something writers get too. For other reasons usually. The idea that I have something to say is one of the biggest reasons people don’t write or try to share what they write.

Our pasts, our memories, our sense of self have much to say on our potential sources of insight or wisdom. Mostly what it says is, “Don’t bother.”

Who am I to talk about God? Or pursuing the spiritual life?

This is a Saturday question as well. Our pasts have caught up with us... (read more)

Patrick O

Not so fast with that optimism, buddy!

The new jobs report was released today. I have heard a few people make some optimistic noises about the fact that private sector jobs have matched the 2008 peak in terms of numbers. (See here, for example, though they do have the decency to caveat the hell out of the article.)

What I'm not hearing, and don't expect to hear from the Administration, is a comment about full-time jobs. As of March 1 2014, the US economy had 3,872,000 FEWER full-time jobs than it did at its peak in November 2007. And that's after almost five years of recovery.

And given that the working age population has grown considerably in the intervening years, the employment situation is actually even worse than it appears.

So don't let the bastards tell you how goddamned good we've got it, and what a wonderful job they've done. Because it just ain't so.

The Kitchen Drawer -Icepick

22 Manly Ways To Reuse An Altoids Tin

Commenter MamaM contributes a link to "22 Manly Ways To Reuse An Altoids Tin"

I like the "martini on the go" one.  The valet idea is a little unmanly, I'd say, but it was contributed by a woman, so there you go.

The Love Saga Continues....

[Guest Post From Trooper York - this installment is a continuation-in-part from here]

Julia wasted most of the day reading “Television Without Pity” and posting snarky nasty comments on the “Honey Boo Boo” thread. Anything to stick a finger in the eye of these rubes. After a short nap and an even shorter grooming session, Julia left her hotel room and went down to the lobby. She went to the concierge to ask how to find this “Long Branch” so she could check out the band and more importantly to question some of the locals. Julia found that her questioning always went better with alcohol. Maybe she could wrap this up tonight and get back to Williamsburg in time to read the Sunday Times alone in her room. With her cat George Sand.

The desk clerk was busy on her computer and looked up with a bright smile until she saw it was Julia. She wondered why she so often had that effect on service people. She didn’t understand that it was because she was an unreconstructed bitch on wheels and treated service people as what she saw them to be. Servants. Theoretically she supported these hard working people. In reality she tipped like a black person. Or a German. So they only gave her the minimum courtesy that any customer might be due.

“Do you know how to get to the 'Long Branch' saloon” she asked brusquely. She often felt that if she was rough and gruff she got better results from the “lower classes.” In fact it just meant that she always got spit in her latte but what she didn’t know wouldn’t burst her bubble.

“Really. You are going to the 'Long Branch'” well okey dokey.” The clerk looked amused. “Just drive down Main St and turn on Jefferson. Go about a mile until you see a down at the heels honkey tonk with a bunch of beat up old trucks and American cars. There’s a Buffalo head over the door and a neon sign with three letters out. That’s it.”
“Delightful.” Julia shuddered. She walked away without saying thank you. That was her style. Entitled. She left gratitude and humility to those less gifted. She did not have a PhD in Woman’s Studies so that she could be nice to desk clerks.

Julia got into her hideous rental car and drove down Main St. It was bustling with people and commerce even at this hour. The boom times from the energy explosion in North Dakota had brought a lot of money to so many undeserving types. They were prospering from the rape of the land. Like their ancestors who stole this land from the Native Americans. She had to expose them. She had to find the truth of their evil. This story must be told.

A Love Story In Progress

[A Guest Post From Trooper York]

Julia sat in the diner sipping her tea and looking at the plate of eggs that the harried waitress had set before her. They looked greasy and hurried. Much like the rest of the patrons of the diner.

Why had she agreed to come to his horrible place to research an article for “The Huffington Post?” She had to leave her comfortable studio apartment that she paid five thousand a month for in Williamsburg Brooklyn to come to this cold winter landscape of North Dakota. She had to leave behind so much. Her books. Her supportive friends. Her organic food market. Her cat. Oh God her cat. She missed her so much.

The little bell at the top of the door jingled and a man walked into the diner. He was tall and lean. Wearing jeans and a down parka with a yellow hard hat. He must be an oil worker. The type of person she was supposed to talk to in order to get a good article. He walked up to the counter and sat down. He put his hat and gloves on the counter and opened his coat.

“Hi Jack” said the waitress as she set a cup in front of him and filled it with steaming hot coffee from a battered glass pot. “Any luck last night?”

“Yeah Flo I was pretty lucky. But you know me. When I drill I always strike a gusher. I push and push and push my tool down the shaft until I make something happen. That’s what I do.” “Ha you’re a kidder” laughed Flo as she flushed red. “The usual?” “Sure.”

Baby, it's cold inside

""We're going to study matter at temperatures far colder than are found naturally," says Rob Thompson of JPL. He's the Project Scientist for NASA's Cold Atom Lab, an atomic 'refrigerator' slated for launch to the ISS in 2016. "We aim to push effective temperatures down to 100 pico-Kelvin."

100 pico-Kelvin is just one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero, where all the thermal activity of atoms theoretically stops. At such low temperatures, ordinary concepts of solid, liquid and gas are no longer relevant. Atoms interacting just above the threshold of zero energy create new forms of matter that are essentially ... quantum.

Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that describes the bizarre rules of light and matter on atomic scales. In that realm, matter can be in two places at once; objects behave as both particles and waves; and nothing is certain: the quantum world runs on probability.

It is into this strange realm that researchers using the Cold Atom Lab will plunge."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sometimes envision our social relationships, as a species, in the same manner.

The turmoil of the sun's surface versus the relative seeming peace of the moon. The moon a dead thing, essentially, of course.

As similar to the huge cultural differences amongst the various cultures in the world, versus two people, of any culture, strangers, sitting on a park bench, or on a plane, or a Greyhound. Mostly we ignore the opportunity to learn of another, preferring instead our fortified castle. Sometimes though, through what quirk I know not, we talk.

-XRay

Guest Post: "wanted to share the good news"

I've mentioned that I'm on a brand new drug therapy for Hep C. It's called Sovaldi, and it looks like it's gonna be a miracle drug. It's incredibly expensive unless you have good insurance, which I do for now.

I've had this virus for 36 years. After my transplant in 2006, my viral load doubled. I guess the little bastards saw the new liver as a buffet and started fornicating like rabbits. Anyway, viruses are incredibly small, so small that one ml of my blood contains about 1,300,000 copies of the virus - at least it did. After being on this drug for 2 weeks (one pill a day) I had my blood tested and got the news today. My viral count dropped to 114/ml. I'm in week 4 now, and probably have entirely eliminated it from my blood.

This incredible drug does this with zero side effects and no drug interactions. A true miracle invention. I will be taking it for 24 weeks if my insurance approves it for that long. They have so far. They have good reason to balk at just under $1000 per pill. I pay , not even a copay. I know, crazy isn't it? It has a 70% cure rate so far for people with my genotype which is the most common and hardest to eliminate. I'm very optimistic. This virus acts extremely slowly, but causes cancer eventually, first in the liver, but later lymphomas and others too.

If I get cured of this after 36 years, I'll be fucking stoked. I've spent so much time, energy and misery fighting it and it's effects for so long. I suppose if I do get a cure, I'll get hit by a bus the next day.

Anyway, I'm just as pleased as a boy can be, and wanted to share the good news. Have a great weekend all. I know I will.

Commenter Bagoh20

Guest Post: "Rough Track from Weekend Session"

"Old Dawgz lead vocalist and bassist, John Filipponi, dropped by Chez Howlin' Steve this weekend to put down some tracks on my Zoom R24. Here's the first rough edit out of that session... The Marshall Tucker song, Can't You See."



"Johnny and I have been harmonizing for four years! We follow one another so effortlessly. I've listened to this track a couple of dozen times. Voices of the angels. (And, of the devils.)
When my wife, Myrna, passed away, I thought that this aspect of my life, singing in close harmony, had ended. Johnny has been a Godsend."

"Big Joe will be adding vocal backups and lead guitar to this track. The Old Dawgz are still in the process of deciding which tunes will make the new CD. I just wanted to include my readers in on the process."

Harleys, Cars, Girls & Guitars

Guest Posts Welcome

Yesterday. in my "I like This Idea for a Post This Morning" (still going strong today) I asked yous guys (a little Trooper lingo there) to suggest topics, that may have gone "neglected", for us to post, discuss, chew over, kick around etc... And, the never disappointing, always obliging, Bagoh20, (Bags, as I call him) shared something I thought I make into a "guest post".

I think something that is very important to a huge number of real people, yet is rarely covered is the subject of opportunity. How can people young and old find, develop, and exploit opportunities to succeed, grow, and build things outside of the standard and over-used one of go to school, go to more school, succeed at school, and then when you are already grown up, go figure out how to make a living by talking someone into hiring you to do what THEY want you to do.

It's not a plan for happiness or self-fulfillment for many people. It's a path based on maintaining the security of doing what you are supposed to for as long as you can pull it off. It's avoiding risk, avoiding challenge, and missing your calling as an individual. It delays for as long as possible your contributing to the people around you, which is how you become self-sufficient - by people needing your work.

The only place I see this stuff addressed is in the work of Mike Rowe. We need more discussion about how people can become valuable assets to their community through self-development that starts out very quickly paying off, and keeps building that throughout a life.

Our education system is a shambles of narrow political experimentation and pet projects of a few philosophies which are antagonistic toward diversity and unconcerned with results. They are experiments insistent on proving their hypothesis with no interest in real results for individuals. Failure is ignored and success is manufactured, and failure is what a great many are getting.

We need more discussion, exploration and experimentation with teaching trades, commerce, business building, how to work in a way where you parlay your minor successes into big ones over a lifetime.

Many immigrants are learning these things, and leaving natives behind in the area of personal development and growth because they arrive without the standard plan as an option, blocking their view of their real opportunities. The reason that immigrants take so many jobs is that they take the damned job. Then, they run with it, advance, start businesses. They don't see their parents' couch as the only alternative to college or a cushy job.

Many millionaires and highly successful, self-actualized individuals and families living great lives owe little or nothing to the standard plan.

I'm not against education - I still work on it every day for myself - but the way it is being done and sold is mostly a scam - a high end version of the stuff sold on late night TV as get-rich-quick lies. They take your money, waste you valuable time, and in the end, leave you to your own devices anyway, but wounded and broke.

That's a lot of rant against what isn't working, but I see the successful people all around me, including myself, and many found a different ways, which people don't really see anymore. They are there. They should be better known.

Thanks Bags. This post also gave me the opportunity to plum the tags bar. (mix metaphors, too late)

It's De Blasio Time!

Another guest post from Trooper York:

Here is an interesting article about how former criminals are advising the new mayor Bill de Blasio.

Here is an except:

Forget Ray Kelly, Bill de Blasio is getting his policing advice from the real experts — hardened criminals.
A group of 50 ex-cons, junkies and chronic vagrants gathered at a Manhattan “Think Tank” Thursday to describe what they thought the NYPD should be doing to make their lives easier.
The felonious forum outlined a clear “get-soft-on-crime” vision.
“I like the idea of ending stop and frisk. That was the first thing that was totally there for me,” opined Mikell Green-Grand, a 49-year-old former jailbird who has convictions for grand larceny and identity theft.
Arthur Castillo, 38 — who has been convicted for possessing stolen property and assault — said he would be much obliged if the cops just left him alone to do his thing.
“Cops won’t leave us alone!” he said. “Newly released prisoners are watched by the police and a lot of us don’t feel we have an opportunity to readapt to normal life because we are treated as criminals even though we are free.”
The event, which was held in Morningside Heights, was hosted by an advisory group called Talking Transitions, run by liberal billionaire investment magnate George Soros.
The goal was to offer de Blasio tips on “policing, corrections, parole policies and more.” 

You can't make this shit up.

Let's Hush This Up!

Guest post by Trooper York:

This was featured at Drudge.

It was all over the news the last couple of days. Of course most liberal news media outlets and bloggers refuse to address it. Because that would be racist you see. Just ask Crack. Or Oprah. Or the Evil Blogger Lady. Or the Instanerd.

I know what this is like because I live in New York and I know how this goes. These animals look for people who are vulnerable. Now that I walk with a cane and lost about 40lbs I might look like one of these people. Of course I am always super alert when in the proximity of these types of yutes. But not everyone is so lucky. They better wake up.

They are living in Deblasio time.

Seven Days In November

Trooper York said...

Seven Days In November

Oval Office Wednesday November 9, 2016

“Well the election results are in Mr. President” said Jay Carney “It’s a replay of Bush vs Gore.”

“What do you mean Jay?” said the President as he played with his Blackberry. It was never too early to work on his NCAA brackets. “Spell it out for me please.”

“Hillary won the popular vote but it seems that maniac Ted Cruz won the electoral. They are contesting Florida in court and demanding a recount. So it is still up in the air.”

“Either way the country loses Mr. President” piped up Valarie Jarrett who was commonly referred to as Rasputin behind her back. As much for her facial hair as her Svengali like powers over the lazy Chief executive. “Your agenda and legacy will be trashed by either of them. That racist Cruz will destroy Obamacare and wipe out Food Stamps and clean energy. He will be a disaster. The Tea Party will destroy this country and everything we have built. Hillary will be worse. After the way she attacked us and threw you under the bus about Benghazi you know she is going to let loose the dogs to investigate everything that happened during our time of office. We can’t let that happen. It will be a witch hunt. And who is a bigger witch than Hillary?”

“Listen to them Barry” intoned his wife Michelle as she flexed her arm muscles and broke a walnut. She was not referred to as Rasputin even though in fact she actually was a beard. “We have to think outside the box. I mean who says we really have to step down when the country is in chaos? Either one of those damn fools will destroy the America that we have built.”

“Yes that’s true” murmured the distracted President as he tried to figure out how to get the PGA standings on his phone. “Bring me some options on what we can do. But first I have one important question. Jay?”

“Yes sir?”

“What is my tee time today?”

(to be continued)

October 30, 2013 at 5:22 PM

edutcher was wondering...

                                                     

I mentioned The Blonde's interest in doing a blog. She wants to do it on nursing, where she feels she has a lot of knowledge to impart. Of the commenters here, what's your expertise, the field on which you think you can really expound for all the world to see? And maybe critique?

You know you have one.

                                

edutcher was wondering...

The Blonde and I returned to one of our favorite controversies yesterday - whether she should start a blog.

Here's a woman with 43 years' nursing experience in many fields - oncology, communicable disease, rehab, med-surg, etc.; a great diagnostician (she can tell by your smell if you're sick), excellent knowledge of medicines and their interactions, and so on. She wants to do a Q&A format - kind of a nursing Dear Abby or a legal Althouse.

So, the question is,  you want to impart knowledge to a great many people, particularly those in your profession, what's a good blog format? And how do you handle comments? Or is such altruistic thinking a wasted effort?

Or do you go the Althouse route and keep it general with an emphasis on your strong suit?